Columbia would like its police officers to live in the city, but that is often hard to do with the high cost of housing.

Fifth Ward Councilman Matt Pitzer is proposing the city set aside $500,000 in savings from a prior budget for housing assistance for new and current police officers who agree to live in the city for either five or 10 years.

Among the benefits from the plan Pitzer has cited is its potential to help with increasing the diversity of the police force.

In the past five years, 95 police officers have left the department, a number that is more than half the number of officers currently authorized in the Columbia Police Department budget, Pitzer said.

According to city records, of the 163 uniformed positions currently filled in the police department, 138 are men, 149 are white, eight are black and four are Hispanic. The department employs one Asian officer and one American Indian officer.

Of the 33 civilian workers at CPD, 21 are female, 31 are white and two are black.

CPD spokeswoman Bryana Larimer said there are challenges to recruiting and maintaining a diverse group of officers.

“Ultimately our goal as a department is to mirror the diversity of the community we serve as much as possible,” she said. “Hiring in law enforcement has become quite a bit more challenging over the past several years, which means smaller applicant pools. We continue to look for innovative ways to recruit the best possible police officers, as well as opportunities to forge new partnerships to assist with our on-going minority recruitment efforts.“

According to the census, Columbia's population is 78.32 percent white, 9.72 percent black, about 6 percent Asian and 5 percent of mixed race.

The police department has been criticized for its interactions with minorities. Some social justice advocates say annual numbers showing black drivers are stopped at a rate greater than that of their white peers show racial bias in the police department. The city council has directed the department to implement a community-oriented policing approach, in part as a way to ease those criticisms.

Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala and Fourth Ward Councilman Ian Thomas said they would like to see more diversity within the police department, but they do not have solutions.

“We do have difficulty in recruiting African-Americans to be police officers, and it would be helpful to improve that,” Thomas said.

Skala called the racial breakdown numbers in the department "unacceptable." He said the council can set policy, but the reality is that hiring is the responsibility of the police chief and city manager.

Pitzer believes diversity within the police department has been improving, noting that officers from minority groups were among the 17 hired in December.

Under Pitzer’s plan, which most of the council embraced Monday night, new officers and firefighters would be eligible for up to $500 in monthly rent assistance for six months if the rented property is in the city.

After serving two years, officers and firefighters would be eligible for a down payment on a home in the form of a grant. A five-year commitment from these employees would get them up to $5,000. A 10-year commitment would result in a $10,000 down payment.

Thomas said he supports Pitzer’s plan because the need for additional first responders is obvious.

“A lot of our officers live outside the city,” Thomas said. “Right now, we don’t have affordable housing here. This will provide some assistance. It makes coming to Columbia a little more enticing."

Thomas said it is no secret the city has had trouble recruiting officers, so an assistance package like the one Pitzer suggests is necessary.

Thomas praised the plan's extra $5,000 for living in one of the city’s three strategic plan neighborhoods. The city has identified those neighborhoods as targets for certain policy initiatives in part because of their higher levels of poverty.

“If officers lived in these neighborhoods, that would be powerful,” he said. “It is fairly a small amount of money, and I would like to explore that.”

Mayor Brian Treece, who did not return calls for this story, said Monday night that the high number of officers leaving the police department is disappointing.

“Ninety-five left in the last five years. That is alarming,” Treece said. “I want us to do everything we can to encourage the officers to stay.”

Pitzer announced his plan at a news conference, which drew criticism from Skala, who said he wished Pitzer would have talked to other council members first. However, he said he has no problem with the council discussing the plan.

mmaresh@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1722

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.